Ingenico announced the launch of a new conactless card payment system for public transportation in Eskisehir, Turkey.

Based on MasterCard’s M/Chip Advance technology, the new system will allow riders on Eskisehir’s buses and tramways to pay for fares with the tap of a contactless “Esparacard” card.

Ingenico designed and supplied both the point-of-sales hardware and software payment solutions for the Esparacard project. Other partners include Garanti Bankasi, Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality, MasterCard, Asis and ILFER companies.

According to Ingenico, the company’s POS equipment was specially modified to recognize unique and personal cardholder information embedded on the Esparacard. For example, the reader can automatically tell whether a rider qualifies for a student, or a teacher, or senior fare discount with a single swipe.

The prepaid Esparacard contains both contact and contactless features, and is a part of MasterCard M/Chip Advance worldwide’s new payment platform for transportation.

The Esparacard system is also integrated with the banking infrastructure to allow the use of credit cards from all banks, according to Yilmaz Büyükersen, mayor of Eskisehir.